Men's National Boxing Championships 2022: Shiva Thapa beats Manish Kaushik to reach final

In a high-profile semi-final clash, six-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa recorded a remarkable win against the 2019 world championship bronze winner Manish Kaushik to reach the final of the Men's National Boxing Championships 2022 in Hisar on Thursday.

Assam's Thapa and Services Sports Control Board's (SSCB) Kaushik started out aggressively in the 63.5kg match. As the bout progressed, Thapa utilised his experience to smartly dodge punches with his quick feet while landing more accurate blows.

Ultimately, Shiva Thapa, the 2015 world championship bronze medallist, was successful in having the upper hand over Kaushik and registered a resounding 5-0 win. The Indian boxer will face the 2019 world youth championships silver medallist Ankit Narwal in the finals.

Two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin, representing SSCB, reached the 57kg final. He blanked Ashish Kumar of Himachal Pradesh in the semis to win by unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, 2021 Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) of SSCB secured a comfortable victory against Ashish Bhandor of Himachal Pradesh. 

Showcasing his power and supreme technical ability, Sanjeet gave his opponent no chance to come back in the bout and sealed his place in the finals after the referee stopped the contest (RSC) in the second round.

Sanjeet's SSCB team-mates, the 2022 Asian Championships bronze medallists Sumit (75kg) and Narender (+92kg) also won their respective semis bouts with unanimous decisions. While Sumit defeated Tinderpal Singh of Punjab, Narender won against Jaipal Singh of Punjab and advanced to the finals.

Representing RSPB, Sagar (+92kg) was squaring off against Akash of Delhi. Sagar made light work of his opponent and will be going head-to-head against Narender for the title.

Meanwhile, Abhinash Jamwal of Himachal Pradesh stunned 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Rohit Tokas of RSPB in the 67 kg semi-finals. The closely contested match saw both pugilists give it their all but Jamwal's edge out to secure a 4-3 win after the bout was reviewed. He will face Akash of SSCB in his final bout.

The RSPB duo of Govind Sahani (48kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) secured their berths in the summit clash with identical 5-0 wins over Neeraj Swami of Delhi and Suni Chouhan of Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

The final bout of all weight categories at the Men's National Boxing Championships will be held on Friday.